The oaks and beeches on the drive into the shop were glowing in today’s rain.

This mum is always the last thing to start blooming in my garden, and sometimes gets frozen before it really starts blooming. It is quite frost resistant, having weathered several nights into the mid-twenties. I like how it looks with the Kousa dogwood behind it, though the dogwood is often a brighter red than it is this year.

In the same bed, the Spiraea Ogon is moving from its usual chartreuse to gold and orange, and the monkshood/Aconitum is still blooming. This bed is really the only one that looks very good right now, other than the healthy kale in the veggie bed and a few evergreen groundcovers and other perennials by the front door.

Lovely foliage on the drive, NHBabs!

Is that one of the Sheffield mums blooming so late? That's an interesting color on the Kousa. Mine are all over the place this year with the one in most sun almost gone by now while others are just turning color.

This Kousa is next to some cotoneaster which are turning red now.

Aster 'Fanny' is still blooming.

And Autumn Joy sedum is getting darker, here next to a Bosnian pine.

The big old Osmanthus is still blooming. The flowers are so small I've never been able to get a good over all picture.

A volunteer crabapple is turning yellow and the red fruits are contrasting nicely.

I'm still getting a few isolated rose blooms:

Rose Zephirine Drouhin with hydrangea Blue Billow beneath it.

Classic Knockout:

And Blushing Knockout has a few buds. I don't know if these are freeze-dried or are still going to bloom.

The temperatures have been all over the place with a few nights below freezing followed by daytime 60 - 65 degrees so there hasn't been a consistent foliage progression. Ornamental grasses haven't gotten fluffy yet but their seedheads are mostly up.

Thanksgiving is coming and the pilgrim turkey is ready.

Claire

Claire, the various red-gold combinations are gorgeous. I also like your remaining roses. Some years I get some fall roses, but this year the conditions must not have been right. Is the Osmanthus scented?

I have no idea what the mum is. I bought it many years ago from a local apple orchard that had just a few perennials for sale. It didn’t have a label at all as I recall, and though I have looked for similar photos, I haven’t found one that matches. From a distance it is a coppery color, but close up the petals are a mix of pink and gold.

Thanks, NHBabs. The Osmanthus is supposed to be scented but allergies dim my ability to perceive fragrance, so I don't know. Logee's has a Sweet Olive ‘Fudingzhu’ (Osmanthus fragrans) that I've been craving for a while but I don't have a good indoor space for it and it's not hardy outdoors here.

When I lived in NYC I used to enjoy the late-blooming Korean mums at the NY Botanical Garden collection. Your mum is probably one of the Korean mums.

Claire

Thanks, Claire. I may do a bit more rummaging around on the web with that additional info to see if I can find an ID.

NHBabs, Spirea 'Ogon' was on my list this year. I wasn't able to get it and got a Lemon Candy Ninebark instead. I still hope to get an Ogon next year! Love the photos of yours throughout the summer.

I was inspired to get Ogon by a plant in a front pocket garden a couple of towns north of me, so I am glad to pass on the favor. Generally I am not overly fond of spirea, but these are lovely, and I am a sucker for gold-chartreuse foliage and the flowers are white rather than pink, another plus IMO. I got mine mail order because I didn’t find any around here, so they started small but grow relatively quickly. I am fairly sure mine came from Avant Gardens in MA. They are largely mail order but are open a few weekends a year.

https://www.avantgardensne.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Ogon+spirea

i would love to hear what you think of your Lemon Candy ninebark/Physocarpus in a couple of years when it starts hitting its stride.

Wow, that’s a stunning display, PM2! And I always like the patterns of J. Maple leaves on the ground almost as much as when they are still on the tree. I think that I need to give a try to some of the more hardy J. Maples such as Emperor 1, even though my cold pocket is really a bit colder than they like. I might be successful if I try a sheltered spot.

All this rain this year has been really good for the Japanese Maple in our very dry yard. I think I have an old shot of the tree in the spring with all the helicopters all over it that is really pretty too. I have mostly yellows around me in the fall and this Maple is not placed so I can see it out my back windows, so it's all yellow from that view. Now it has me thinking about adding a couple more Japanese Maples in that back border in with all the yellows. I also love the orange colored Japanese Maples. I wonder do Japanese Maples need full sun? I have a couple of places that only get a few hours of sun.

Oh, btw, I bought this tree in the Fall years ago at the 50% off sale and it was in about a 2 gallon pot and couldn't have been more than 2ft tall, and cost me $25. [g]

Here's an article on Japanese Maples in zone 4 or lower...It lists your Emperor 1

Japanese Maples in zone 4 or lower

Thanks for that resource, PM2. I will check it out. I have tried two J maples hat we’re different species that Acer palmatum, neither of which are entirely happy. One died and the other I need to move to a more sheltered spot. Sounds like it was a good deal on your current plant, and I think it would look lovely against the yellows. Two other plants to check out for good contrast would be Fothergilla and Enkianthus, both of which have a lot of orange in shade in my garden, and the Fothergilla get more red in more sun. Both are shrubs rather than trees.

I have an Itea in the front, and I thought I bought a Fothergilla at the same time for the back, but if I did, I don't remember what happened to it. Both are very pretty shrubs. I LOVE the Enkianthus! I did try an Enkianthus and probably placed it in the wrong spot, too close to a mature Maple and the dryness and root competition, it just didn't work out. I should think of trying it again. This year I needed a shrub to fill a spot and I went with a native Calycanthus, which seems to be more yellow than anything else this fall. Next season will be it's first full season, so I'll see. I am sure I have room for another shrub. [g]. I do have blueberries that are nice and red, but not large enough yet to make any difference.

I hope you find a Japanese Maple that works. You haven't tried the Emperor 1 yet, right?

And yes, while it was a deal, I guess I just wanted to encourage people to plant those small trees and take advantage of the fall sales, especially now when trees are so expensive. They really grow faster than you think they will. My experience has been that when they are small they become established quicker and take off sooner.

Nothing dramatic here, but the ornamental grasses, mostly Miscanthus, are nice and fluffy since we're in between rains. More rain is forecasted for tomorrow so the plumes will be stuck together again.

There are three different miscanthus here of varying heights, two of them self-seeded.

Walking up the path, the M. 'Malepartus stands out.

M. 'Gracillimus' is in front of my kitchen window.

And looking out the kitchen window from the inside, I see M. 'Gracillimus' and 'Malepartus'. One thing missing from this view, though, is the winterberry fruits which should dominate the view. There were berries in mid-October when the leaves were still on, but there's nothing left. I'm assuming something ate them when I wasn't looking.

Usually the berries stay on until the end of December when the leaves are gone and the robins and waxwings feast. This was taken on December 2, 2017.

We're coming out of a nasty cold snap with winds when the night temperatures went down to the mid teens (I know that's nothing to some of you northern types but I'm a coastal wimp). Luckily the rains came before and will come after the cold so there was no snow yet. Fine with me.

Claire

My response seems to have not posted . . .

I love the winter interest in your garden, Claire, with the variety of evergreens, berries, the fluffy light colored grasses along with the seals and seabirds and all the activity at your bird feeder; it seems there is always something to catch interest. Just beautiful.

Thanks, NHBabs! Every four or five years we have significant snowfall and there's a classic lovely New England vista (with lots of shoveling). But the other three or four years bring minimal snow cover with just leaves and plant debris on the ground, and winter is more of a dreary season.

I compensate for the dreariness by adding or encouraging anything that looks good in the winter, and by feeding anything that might give me something interesting to watch. My windows are my version of a very wide-screen TV while I wait for spring to come back.

We got almost 2 inches of rain last night with more to come Monday night.

Claire

We have had snow for about a week but a lot of it disappeared today between rain and above freezing temperatures. The difference in temperatures between the cooling air, the snow, and the air coming off the river led to some interesting layering of the fog this late afternoon. Shallow melting snow on a gray day is fairly dreary also.

Love to see what's going on in everyone's garden. Very pretty grasses, Claire and wow, do you have a LOT Of berries! Babs, your vistas are always so soothing and always changing.

My yard is very unattractive right now. A lot of ugly limp leaves still hanging off some Hydrangea and Celthra, and the front garden got a good batting down with almost 6 inches of snow last week that is almost gone. I've had my fun out there, getting ready for next spring and now I'm more focused on the inside and staying busy until spring. This fall, we had a lot of bright color that lasted a fair amount of time, so that was enjoyable. And once the leaves are bare and there's a coating of snow, it will be pretty again. I'm thinking about getting out more this winter and bundling up and going for walks to see something different. Maybe some town centers. And of course, there are the holidays. By the time they are over, it's January and time to start thinking about seeds.

I just brought home a white Cyclamen for the DR table and we got a wreath on the door yesterday, the extent of our outdoor decoration. [g]. I plan on adding to my houseplant collection this winter and keeping them going as long as I can.

I will either put up wreaths or swags on the doors, and I enjoy putting out some lights, usually wrapped on things that are typically plant supports. I’ve wrapped several spiral tomato stakes with white, battery powered lights that can be set anywhere in the garden, usually in a cluster, and have draped red light on one of my clematis cages. I enjoy seeing the lights when I come home after dark. If it thaws out enough I will place red twigged dogwood stems and some pine and spruce branches in one or more outdoor container, but right now everything is frozen solid, so that may not happen this year.

We didn’t manage to do leaf cleanup because it rained so much that the leaves were constantly wet, so if there is full melting of our snow and it ever stops raining, I will attempt to get the worst of the leaves into the compost pile, though usually they just get mowed back into the lawn.

That sounds nice, I didn't know they had battery powered lights. I'll have to look for those. I don't really have anything permanent, like a clematis structure near my windows that it would work on. I have some wrought iron shepherd's hooks that I take in for the winter. I have two pots of arborvitae's right out my kitchen window that might work on though. How do you turn them on just at night? I hope you can take some photos and share them.

We got out there and mowed all the leaves off the lawn and added them to the borders, but some of the leaves just haven't fallen off some of the shrubs yet and are a mess. We cleaned out the gutters yesterday - they were FULL! We even pulled some branches out of them, after all the wind we've had, no surprise. And the leaves were soaked. Ready for the week of rain now.

Last year I started white Amarylis bulbs, but this year, I saw this white cyclamen and brought it home. Nice for a change. :-)

That's a really pretty cyclamen, PM2.

It's too early and warm for me to put up Christmas decorations, but I did put protection on some plants when we had the nasty cold snap. The cover is placed over a fence with various lining materials. I raked up some leaves and added them to the crape myrtle enclosure.

Hopi crape myrtle

Variegated hydrangea

Euonymus 'Silver King'

Clothespins are good for fastening the cover to the fence underneath.

I've been covering the crape myrtle and the variegated hydrangea for several years and they do well, although I still haven't been able to keep the hydrangea flower buds over the winter.

The euonymus 'Silver King' is on its last legs and may not survive this winter. I had several of them but they've been declining and I decided to cover the last one too late last winter. I think they are marginally hardy here.

Claire

That is a beautiful cyclamen, PM2. They are one of the few types of disposable plants I have bought, usually when my local greenhouse gets some in leading up to Valentine’s Day. I tried planting some hardy ones outdoors here, but we are on the northern border of their hardiness and either the cold or the voles got them within a couple of years. I may try again but give them more protection. PM2, I have found the battery operated lights at Home Depot and haven’t seen them anywhere else. They always seem to sell out. DH often has to fix one but they are still functioning after more than 5 years And I have half a dozen strings Or perhaps a couple more.

i do any indoor decorations just before Christmas, but the outdoor lights and greens are typically out at my house from late November (since it is too cold and frozen to do any later) until after Valentines’s Day when the afternoon light levels are growing and I have some hope of being able to pull them out. Some very frozen years it has been closer to Easter . . .

Claire, those are the least obtrusive plant protection structures I have ever seen. I haven’t ever done any protection, partly because fall is often too busy, but also becauseI don’t think I would want to look at them all season, so I just take the attitude that either the plants survive or they don’t. All my protection is below ground. Yours blend in well as far as color, though.. It seems like they help with zone pushing, so that is good.

Claire, I tried using a similar system over winter to try to grow a Camelia, but it didn't help. All the leaves around the foliage all winter, managed to produce a fungal problem and it died the next year anyway. [g]. I don't think I have another marginally hardy plant. I have about 4 varieties of Hydrangea and all are supposed to be hardy here in zone 6 but some years I get few blooms from the mopheads, even those that bloom on new wood. I added the 'Little Lime' paniculata last year and I love them. Lots of blooms dependably. I think I prefer the white blooms anyway. I love the purple or the pink, but I've decided I'm not a big blue fan. [g] I'm planning to replace some of my mopheads with more of the paniculatas.

If I had enough sun, I'd grow a Crape Myrtle and if I had one I'd definitely use winter protection. I'm surprised you have to cover a Euonymous, I thought they were indestructible and hardy and you are warmer than I am. I've seen something variegated for sale at Lowe's here.

Babs, I also hate to buy disposable plants. About the only one I am usually a sucker for are the Hyacinths in late winter. I love the fragrance and I have added them to the garden every time I am finished with them and have gotten a lot of Hyacinths that way. I wonder if I couldn't keep the cyclamen as a houseplant? Haven't tried it before. Or add them to containers in the summer outdoors, if I can keep it alive that long.

I normally don't start putting up Christmas decorations yet, but, this year, my daughter gave me the idea. She's going to be away after Christmas so she wanted to get her decorations in early because she won't have that after Christmas time enjoying them. And since we just finished painting the LR/DR, there was the blank top of the DR hutch and one thing led to another...lol. We draw the line at putting up the Christmas tree this early. [g] And it's the darn Hallmark Channel's fault. They run Christmas movies non stop from Halloween on, and I caught a couple and it just got me in the spirit I guess. I just hope I won't be sick of them by Christmas. :-)

PM2 I forgot one of your lights questions. They can be turned on manually or they can be turned on for a timed 5 hour run. You set the timer by turning them in when you want them to start and thereafter they start at that time every evening and run for 5 hours and then shut off automatically. One set of batteries (3Ds) last all winter with this regime since they are LEDs.

Excellent, Babs. That sounds like a great idea with the lights. I'm going to look for them this week. Thanks!

NHBabs: This is the Shrub & Potted Plant Protector I use, bought from Lee Valley. I put a little folding fence around the plant with a cardboard liner and some row cover and then put the protector over it. If necessary I put a stake inside to hold up the cover. I pretend they're evergreens in the landscape.

PM2: I only put the leaves, mostly oak and cherry, in with the crape myrtle which doesn't have its own leaves on in the winter. This is the first year I've done this. I didn't put leaves in with the hydrangea and euonymus because they still have foliage and, as you pointed out, there could be a moldy mess in there.

I'll put rope lights on the deck and porch railings and regular lights on the wisteria. All of these will be on a plug-in timer. The rope lights are meant to foil the squirrels that love to chew on regular lights. The squirrels still sometimes chew on the wisteria lights but I just replace them.

I also like to scatter big red or red and gold ribbon bows on trees in the yard and I put a few on the deck and porch. These give nice color during the daytime when the lights are off.

I'll do this in mid-December when it feels more wintry (more rain tonight).

Claire